Haiti earthquake has close ties to local ministry

Wednesday

Feb 3, 2010 at 10:23 PMFeb 4, 2010 at 8:14 AM

It was days after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti before Harry Whitt knew whether his dear friend and fellow pastor was alive.Whitt is pastor at New Life Christian Church in Sardis City and founder of Pathway Outreach Ministries based in Etowah County.

By Lisa RogersTimes Staff Writer

It was days after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti before Harry Whitt knew whether his dear friend and fellow pastor was alive.Whitt is pastor at New Life Christian Church in Sardis City and founder of Pathway Outreach Ministries based in Etowah County. One of the missions of Pathway Outreach Ministries is funding for Centre de L'eglise Chretienne, translated to Christian Church Center, and the school at the church.Whitt has known Pastor Fritznel Baptiste, commonly called Pastor Fanfan and pronounced “fa-fa,” since Whitt went on his first mission trip to Haiti in 1991.Baptiste was 19 when the two first met. “God really linked us together,” Whitt said. “He is a like a son to me.”Whitt founded Pathway Outreach Ministries in 1994 and has been on many trips to Haiti since. Pathway Outreach Ministries receives support from a number of different churches and individuals and is not solely supported by any one church or denomination, Whitt said.Pathway commissioned Baptiste in 1995 to start a church in the Buteau area of Leogane, on the coastal plain of Haiti.“The church began as a small congregation meeting under a brush arbor,” Whitt said.Pathway purchased land and built a church building.The ministry had Baptiste hire Haitians to build the church.“It was the most cost effective and it gives them employment,” Whitt said.Eventually the structure, 42 feet by 75 feet with concrete block walls and a flat concrete roof, was finished.The church celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009.After the larger building was finished, Pathway started a school in the main building and in two smaller concrete buildings behind the main building.This year there are eight teachers and about 200 students.“We purchase uniforms and books each year for the students,” he said. “We pay eight staff members at the school and try to feed the children two or three days each week.”It was very unsettling news when Whitt first heard of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake.He first heard reports on the radio and quickly went home and turned on the television to CNN.“The first night it was just spotty reports,” Whitt said.He began to try to call Baptiste's cell phone. “It was just dead on the other end,” he said.Whitt sent e-mails knowing they most likely would not get through, but he had to try.“I spent two days calling all the numbers in Haiti I had,” he said.Then Whitt contacted someone he knew with a Canadian-based mission group. The Haitian pastor for that group had satellite Internet and a generator. He was able to find out that Baptiste and his family were alive and unhurt, but their house had been destroyed.The next day Baptiste was able to call Whitt by satellite phone and speak for a couple of minutes.Baptiste told Whitt the main church building is standing, but is damaged and unsafe. The two small school buildings were more heavily damaged than the main building.“The church has interior support columns which may have saved the main building,” he said. “Our first report was that our school building was completely destroyed. We now understand the building was severely damaged. We will actually know the true damage to all our facilities when we are able to assess the damages ourselves.”Whitt said the quake hit about 5 p.m. so nobody was in the buildings at the time. However, the church's secretary and the 7-year-old son of the associate pastor and school principal were killed.“It is sad, but it seems there is so much to do that the families and communities cannot take the time to grieve. They must survive,” Whitt said. “Our hearts grieve for them.”Whitt plans to go to Haiti, along with Blake Gilbreath, Terry Tucker, Johny Pierre Charles and Dukinson Merillen.“We will be providing physical relief and spiritual encouragement,” Whitt said. “We will also be assessing the damages to see how to proceed with rebuilding.”Whitt has spoken with Baptiste via satellite phone since that first call, most recently on Jan. 28.“They are living in the fields with everybody else, basically using bed sheets as tents” Whitt said. “I told him when we come, we will bring some tarps even though we are limited in the amount of things we can carry. He said ‘If you can bring one, two or three that will be more than we have now'.”Whitt said 90 percent of the structures in Leogane were destroyed, including the hospital. The death toll is 10,000 to 15,000 in the city with a population of 134,000, he said.Whitt said he was told Leogane, about 20 miles from the quake's epicenter, was hit with the same severity as Port au Prince.“The UN is bringing in food, but it is a riot and a fight of the strongest to get the food,” Whitt said. “Those who are older and sick or injured are being shoved back.”Whitt said Baptiste has told him, “I just don't know what to do next.”Whitt sent Baptiste some money through Western Union, which has waived fees for transactions to Haiti.When he spoke with Baptiste on Jan. 28, he told him he has purchased rice and cooking oil for some of the people in the Buteau area who had the greatest need.Whitt said all schools in Haiti have come to a standstill.“We've going to try to repair the church which is a stronghold in the community,” he said.Whitt's plans to go to Haiti have continually changed. He and the others were booked on American Airlines for today, but then found out all flights have been canceled until Feb. 23. They now have canceled their commercial flight and are scheduled for a charter flight on Saturday.Two of the men going with Whitt are Haitian-American and have family in Port au Prince and will be spending their time there to help their families.“We have a great task before us in the relief and recovery of our area of Haiti,” Whitt said. “We are not sure of the condition of our facilities, but we will be helping the Haitian people in every capacity possible.”Pathway is trying to raise money to meet the sustaining needs in the community of Buteau, repair the church and school buildings and provide Baptiste with a home, Whitt said.Tax-deductible donations to help in the Haiti relief effort can be sent to Pathway Outreach Ministries, P.O. Box 296, Boaz, AL 35957, and note on the donation that it is for Haiti relief.“This is one of the most terrible disasters and now is the time to help,” Whitt said. "This is going to be a long process of rebuilding."Many reputable groups are helping the people of Haiti. “We applaud them all,” Whitt said. “We need help with our project, but if not us please assist someone.”See facebook.com/pathwayoutreachministries for more information or contact Whitt at 256-593-4611 or 256-505-2344.

Online Services

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
Gadsden Times ~ 401 Locust St. Gadsden, AL 35901, Gadsden, AL 35901 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service